'Quality' Belgium need more consistency - Hazard

Belgium captain Eden Hazard has called for greater consistency from his side at Euro 2016 after their battling victory against Norway.

Published

5 June 2016

Eden Hazard says Belgium's second-half performance in the thrilling 3-2 win over Norway is what they must replicate to succeed at Euro 2016.

Belgium had lost the early lead given to them by Romelu Lukaku in Brussels on Sunday thanks to goals from Joshua King and Veton Berisha, but Hazard and Laurent Ciman scored with headers in quick succession to seal a dramatic victory.

The captain has now scored in five of his last eight Belgium appearances and urged his team to be more consistent after they racked up 15 attempts in a rampant second half having only mustered four in the first period.

"We are showing at times that we are a good team and sometimes we are less good," Hazard told RTBF.

"I know there is quality in the group, but we can do better and we ought to have more good moments.

"If we make the same efforts as we did in the second half and everyone is available, we can do that."

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On his goal, Hazard added: "This was the first and hopefully goal with my head, even if it is rare to see me score with that part of the body!"

The Chelsea attacker also paid tribute to match-winner Ciman, 30, who plays his club football for Montreal Impact and was drafted into the squad after injuries to Dedryck Boyata, Bjorn Engels and Nioclas Lombaerts, with Vincent Kompany already ruled out.

Hazard continued: "Everyone knows his qualities as a human being. He should not be there, but circumstances dictated he is with us and he has a big mentality.

"He is someone important for the group and everyone respects him - he always gives 200 per cent."

Belgium – the highest-ranked team at Euro 2016 – have been drawn in Group E along with Italy, Republic of Ireland and Sweden.